sorry that this is so short and crappy... BUT I FINALY GOT MY PLOT SORTED OUT AND SO I WON'T BE DISCOUNTINUING!
there'll be at the most, five more chapters to this, i think, because i know exactly how it's going to end. by the way, i got a yes, a no and a maybe for killing off Itachi, you guys seem pretty indecisive.
Pein and Konan stood on either side of the stage, thanking the crowd for coming and apologising that final act had been cut short. Pein didn't usually interact with the crowd, hell he never usually even showed his face, but this was sort of a recovery mission, to calm the crowd again.
Itachi had gotten up after a few moments of panic. It had been funny. For a moment, despite the severity and the risk that Itachi had actually been hurt – which he had, but still.
Sasuke had taken it a little rough and it took three people to hold him back from killing Kisame, who clearly felt bad enough as it was.
So yeah, it was kind of funny in a way.
Itachi hadn't been able to stand up, but he had opened his eyes after a while. Deidara found it funny to watch him try to stand, but fall uselessly to his knees seconds later. Of course, he was immediately reprimanded for laughing and reminded that he was in the same situation. But it didn't make things any less funny.
Anyway, there was apparently some risk of further damage so they'd had to run off to the infirmary and bring help back with them. anybody still there – which was pretty much everybody – listening to Pein's lame, half-assed apology, got to watch as they tested Itachi, first to make sure he wasn't delirious – which was really a matter of opinion since they'd never been able to tell with him anyway – and then to make sure he was as alright as he said he was.
"I'm not a porcelain doll, I'll be fine," Itachi murmured, trying once again to stand, leaning on the person closest to him – which happened to be Tobi. The blood he coughed into his hand heavily contrasted his statement. He pushed away the hands that tried to keep him steady and stood shakily on his own.
Sakura frowned. She hadn't found anything wrong with him besides what was usually wrong, though the blood-coughing was new.
"Okay but I think we'd all feel better if you got checked out. Just in case," she said, in the calming voice she used for the children. She stood her ground against the glare she received and managed to get Itachi to go with her, Kisame following quickly after.
The crowd quickly dispersed and the remaining guests quickly left.
"Un, I'd hate to be him," Deidara said, suddenly painfully aware of his own disabilities as he made to stand up and almost fell. "Everyone treats him like a kid, un. Like he can't take care of himself properly. If that were me un, I'd have blown them all up by now."
Sasori sighed, "yeah but you're a brat who doesn't know any better. And besides, if you were sick, we'd be treating you the same way. They're just worried."
Worried wasn't usually part of the Akatsuki's vocabulary. Especially not since they had Konan who usually gave subtle hints when something bad would happen. But now, Konan had no idea what was going on and so they all had no choice but to be worried.
"Un, sometimes I wish I could see the future. So I'd be able to see the bad days coming and –"
"And what, brat? If Konan can't stop them, what makes you think you'd be able to?"
Deidara shrugged, "determination? I don't know, un. But Konan never tells us anything! Maybe if she did, then we could take matters into our own hands and stop the bad things from happening, un."
"I highly doubt that it's that simple brat, because if she told us our futures and we changed them, then what if something twice as bad was waiting just around the corner? She'd have constant headaches running around always trying to protect everybody and keeping up with the changes as they come. I think it's better off this way."
"Eh, what do you know about fate, Danna, un?"
Konan sat in the other side of the tent, listening intently to the conversation being had by the tents only other occupants.
She found the subject… troubling to say the least. Of course, she'd considered many, many times simply letting out all of the universes secrets, however it seemed there were no longer any to let out.
Had she done something wrong? Was fate itself punishing her for something she didn't even know she'd done?
She could remember everything; it had been etched into her mind since the moment she'd come into contact with each person.
It would storm when they reached Konaha, but families would be crowded at their stop, anyway.
The show would be cut short due to lightening hitting one of the trailers – Hidan's and Kakuzu's to be exact.
Deidara would perform for the first time since his accident, on their fourth night there. He'd do the same trick he'd done on Sasori's first night and tear his stitches but he'd be fine the morning after.
Itachi would end up in hospital the next day, after collapsing in his parents' house. The entire Akatsuki would be informed at about midnight that he probably wouldn't make it.
Of course, Itachi wasn't going to die in Konaha and Kisame would then escort – drag – Sakura down to the hospital at about one in the morning, only to end up granting the boy a few more weeks of life.
Then, on the Friday – exactly seven days from right then, right when Konan sat in the tent – Deidara would be in Konaha around sunset. Friday would be Deidara's last day in the land of the living. He always had the worst luck in the villages; he was always running into somebody who didn't like the Akatsuki or one of its members.
Deidara was meant to be stabbed to death in a dark Konaha alley by a man who had never even heard of the Akatsuki and was just looking for money to feed his family. It would be a grievous misunderstanding; one that would cost Deidara his life and yet save the lives of two sick children.
Of course now, she didn't know what was going to happen and just continued to watch.
She knew the kids would be beginning to pack up outside. They had to leave for Konaha before midnight.
When Sasori opened his eyes, light was shining into the room through the single window.
As of today, he had been with the Akatsuki for a month.
It was late afternoon, so he wasn't surprised to see that Deidara wasn't in bed – though had fun imagining the struggle it must've been to leave, since he was still having trouble with his leg.
Sasori decided to get up as well, though he always found the road train made him kind of dizzy when it was actually on the road, he wanted to find Deidara and knew he'd probably be in the dining cart.
He made his way through the ever-familiar Akatsuki carts with still-sleeping passengers, despite the time, and ended up in a vaguely familiar empty cart with only seats along both walls. The top half of those walls were glass, giving a fleeting view of a place he'd never been before. Fire country. They'd be in Konaha soon.
Pein and Konan were staring out the window, the latter seeming uneasy.
"I can't believe it's been a year since the last time we were in Konaha," Pein said thoughtfully, "will it rain when we get there?"
Konan frowned. "I don't know," she said.
Pein sighed. "Still no luck?"
"It's like the TV back at the orphanage when we tried to watch the adult channels."
"Right, nothing but static, huh?"
Sasori was half-expecting one of them to turn around or at least to acknowledge his presence, but neither of them did. Not that it mattered; he just continued on towards the dining cart –
"Deidara's got physical therapy," Konan said distantly. Her voice almost gave him a heart attack.
"Right, thanks."
He turned around and headed in the other direction, heading to the infirmary.
Konan could feel the amused stare of the Akatsuki leader burning into her skin. She didn't have to ask to know what he was thinking.
"I'm sorry that I don't find the same humour in this situation," she said, "if I could control it, I wouldn't read their minds either. It's bad enough that I catch glimpses of the future."
"Oh, it's glimpses now, huh? Are you sure you're not a quack?"
Konan sighed, smiling despite herself and the frustration that pumped through her veins like lead.
"I think we're past the point where you get to doubt me."
Pein returned her smile and stared back out the window, "ah, you're probably right about that," he stared outside for a while at the miles and miles of farmlands which covered this part of the Fire Country, before saying, "are those clouds?"
Konan looked out over where he pointed. Sure enough, there were dark, angry looking clouds hovering over in the direction of Konaha village. "Yeah, yeah I guess they are."
"I'm no weather man, but if I had to guess, I'd say it's going to storm."
Konan nodded slowly. "Yeah. It's going to storm."
Two hours later when they reached the clearing just outside the village, rain was pouring down in torrents and the odd burst of lightening or clap of thunder filled the sky.
All of the children crowded in the centre cart where Pein and Konan had stayed the entire time, for a lecture on storm safety and a warning not to get their hopes up. It was raining, storming even. The roads were probably flooded, people were probably locked in their houses with boarded up windows and doors. Their families probably hadn't come for them today.
"What?" Naruto was the first to try and speak through his blatant disappointment.
"What do you mean they're not coming!" Kiba yelled.
"I don't understand!" Ino added in.
"d-did we… d-do something w-wrong?" Hinata asked quietly.
Konan rolled her eyes, already getting annoyed. "No you idiots, you did nothing wrong! It's fucking storming out there!"
"Hey, how come she's allowed to swear in front of the damn kids?" Hidan asked. He'd been sitting by the window, not being able to go outside in the cold.
"Don't act like it stops you Hidan, I'm blind, not deaf," Konan growled. Of course, she wasn't literally blind, but simply could only see what everyone else did. Which to her was the same thing as being blind.
"When will it stop?" Naruto asked. If he had to, he'd run through the village in these conditions to see his family again.
"I don't know," Konan said. She sensed the rest of the children were about to ask stupid questions and silenced them quickly, "get outside and set up the damn camp. We're supposed to be putting on a show in three hours!"
With that, she stomped off. Because she hated the rain and there was no way she was going out there to get soaked.
It meant, however, that she wasn't around when the doors were opened, to reveal a make-shift shelter out in the opening, the families of most of the children – all of the children whose parents didn't already travel with the circus – standing there waiting.
"You're going to get sick."
It was hard to hear the voice over the battering of rain on the metal roof he sat on.
Itachi had opted not to go into Konaha with his brother and cousin, not quite feeling the need to see his family just yet. He'd never tell Sasuke – or Tobi for that matter – that they'd been simply given away and the yearly visits were conditions made by the Akatsuki, not the other way around. If their family had it their own way, they'd never see each other again. But he couldn't bring himself to ruin that illusion.
He would go to see them tomorrow or something… or at least once, before he left.
"I'm already sick," he replied quietly.
He had always liked watching the rain, ever since he was a child and was unable to go outside and play with the other children. He'd been sick back then too, though it hadn't escalated this far. He liked watching the rain because it was peaceful and rhythmic. The sound always used to put him to sleep.
But for some reason, today, he had gotten the urge to sit outside instead of simply watching through a window. He'd been out here for about seven minutes and was already soaked.
Kisame sat down beside him, warm despite the weather.
"Your family's here," he said. He knew Itachi didn't like to talk about his family.
"I saw them."
"You're not going to say hi?"
"Not today."
Somehow, though nobody would understand it if they hadn't been around the two for years, that was all that needed to be said. They never shared very many words but the ones they did were important.
"The show's going to start soon."
Itachi nodded distantly.
They weren't letting him perform tonight.
But Sasuke would be.
"Alright, let's go," Itachi started to stand, pausing to cough. Sometimes it felt like his throat was on fire.
They made it to the main tent just on time to get seats near the front. It was always better to sit in the front, where they'd get hit by the most blood. Deidara and Konan sat beside them and Itachi's family was nowhere to be seen.
They watched what was probably the best performance given by any of the children, all year. Konaha was a much bigger place and as such they received a much better reaction, which only fuelled their egos and made them try even harder.
None of the children seemed unsure of themselves and that was probably what made the show so great. You needed confidence to do anything good, right? And it wasn't something they were short of around here.
The Akatsuki started off with Konan as it usually did, though the only things she could predict were things that had already happened, or things she was sure were no longer going to happen, so she settled instead for reading minds until…
Boom!
The sound of lightening hitting something and basically blowing it up, came from outside.
Konan, along with many of the other, mobile Akatsuki members ran outside to see what was wrong.
The sound of Hidan cursing could be heard all the way from inside the tent, though the Akatsuki section of the camp was a good while away. Deidara could only really feel sorry for whoever was standing next to Hidan.
Outside, seeming suddenly unaware of the rain, Konan stared at the destroyed trailer which had been so suddenly struck by lightning. She wasn't even listening to the things that were said around her, though knew the show would have to be cut short.
It didn't make sense. Why were these things happening? The future had been changed, right?
But then, the weather was an act of god, and the trailers were simply circumstance. The families of lucky circus children, hadn't been effected by the incident in Taki, so their actions couldn't be expected to change.
Right, so it was merely a coincidence. She'd seen it for herself; the future was a very different, unknown place.
All of this, all of it was a coincidence. She was sure of it.
Once again, sorry for how bad this was, but i promise the next one will be better ^^.